Satellite

Communications
Systems
Class Contents
Satellite Parameters and Configurations
Satellite Orbits
Frequency Bands
Transmission Impairments
Satellite Network Configurations
Capacity Allocation Frequency Division
FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing)
FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)
Capacity Allocation Time Division
Satellite Parameter and
Configurations
Parts of a Satellite System

Earth Station
Uplink
Downlink
Transponder

Categorization
Coverage Area
Global
Regional
National

Service Provided
Fixed Service Satellite (FSS)
Broadcast Service Satellite (BSS)
Mobile Service Satellite

Usage
Commercial, Military, Amateur, Experimental
Differences with Terrestrial Wireless
Communications. Design Parameters
The area of coverage of a satellite system far exceeds
that of a terrestrial system.
Spacecraft power and allocated bandwidth are limited
resources that call for careful tradeoffs in earth
station/satellite design parameters
Conditions between communicating satellites are more
time invariant than those between satellite and earth
station, or between 2 terrestrial wireless antennas.
Within the satellites area of coverage, transmission cost
is independent of distance.
Differences with Terrestrial Wireless
Communications. Design Parameters
Broadcast, multicast and point-to-point
applications are readily accommodated.
Availability of very high bandwidths and data
rates.
The quality of transmission is extremely high in
satellite links, even though they are subject to
short-term outages or degradations.
A transmitting earth station can in many cases
receive its own transmission
Satellite Orbits
Type of Orbit
Circular
Elliptical
Plane of Orbit
Equatorial
Polar
Inclined
Satellite Orbits
Altitude of the orbit
Geostationary Satellites (GEO)
Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)
Design Parameters
Orbit Height

Coverage Angle

Elevation Angle
Parameters
Elevation Angle
Problems dictate that should be > 0
0
.
Objects Blocking the LOS
Atmospheric attenuation is greater at low elevation
angles
Electrical noise generated by earth heat near the
surface affects reception.
Uplink (min 5
0
) Downlink (5
0
20
0
)
Coverage Angle (|)
Defines a circle in the surface of the earth.
Area of coverage can be calculated.
Area of coverage expressed as the diameter
of the area covered:


Parameters
R | 2
Expressed in Radians
Radius of the Earth
6370 Km
Distance from
Satellite to Earth


Round Trip Delay
Time
Parameters
) cos(
) sin( ) (
u
| h R
d
+
=
Trigonometric Identities:

Sine Theorem
Cosine Theorem
sin (x) = cos (x - t /2)
sin (x + t /2) = cos(x)
) cos(
) sin( ) ( 2 2
u
|

+
s s

c
h R
t
c
h
Geostationary Satellites (GEO)
Orbit Height 35863 Km
No problems due to Doppler effect
Satellite tracking is simplified
Satellite can communicate with roughly 1/4
th
of
the earth
3 satellites separated 120
0
needed to cover
most inhabited areas of the earth. (except both
poles)
Geostationary Satellites (GEO)
Problems:
Signal weak after travelling 35000+ Km.
Polar regions on both hemispheres are
poorly served by GEO
Minimum delay in sending the signal is
0.24 seconds.
Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Circular or slightly elliptical orbit at under
2000 Km. Proposed and actual systems
are in the range of 500 to 1500 Km.
The orbit period is in the range off 1.5 to 2
hours.
The diameter of coverage is about 8000
Km.
Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Roundtrip signal propagation delay is less
than 20 ms.
The maximum time that the satellite is
visible from a fixed point on earth (above
the radio horizon) is up to 20 minutes.
Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Because the motion of the satellite relative
to a fixed point on earth is high, the
system must be able to cope with large
Doppler shifts, which change the
frequency of the signal.
The atmospheric drag on a LEO satellite is
significant, resulting in gradual orbital
deterioration.
LEOs Advantages over GEOs
Reduced propagation
delay
Received signal is much
stronger than that of a
GEO for the same
transmission power
Coverage can be better
localized, so that
spectrum can be better
conserved.
LEO commercial proposals
Little LEOs
Frequency below 1 GHz
Bandwidth below 5 MHz
Data Rates of up to 10 kbps
Aimed at paging, tracking and low rate messaging
Big LEOs
Frequecy Above 1 GHz
Datarates up to a few Gbps
Same service as little LEO plus voice and positioning
services
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)
Circular orbit at an altitude in
the range 5000 to 12000 Km.
The orbit period is about 6
hours
The diameter of coverage is
from 10000 to 15000 Km.
Round trip signal propagation
delay is less than 50 ms.
The maximum time that the
satellite is visible from a fixed
point on earth (above the radio
horizon) is a few hours
Frequency Bands
Band Frequency
Range
Total Bandwidth General Application
L 1 to 2 GHz 1 GHz
Mobile satellite service (MSS)
S 2 to 4 GHz 2 GHz
MSS, NASA, deep space research
C 4 to 8 GHz 4 GHz
Fixed satellite service (FSS)
X 8 to 12.5 GHz 4.5 GHz
FSS military, terrestrial earth
exploration, meteorological
satellites
Ku 12.5 to 18 GHz 5.5 GHz
FSS, broadcast satellite service
(BSS)
K 18 to 26.5 GHz 8.5 GHz
BSS, FSS
Ka 26.5 to 40 GHz 13.5 GHz
FSS
General Applications
Mobile Satellite Service (MSS): Is a satellite system which uses portable terrestrial
terminals. MSS terminals may be mounted on a ship, an airplane, an automobile or
may even be carried by an individual. The most promising application of Mobile
Satellite Service is portable satellite telephones which will enable phone service
anywhere on the globe. Another application is global positioning systems (GPS)

Fixed Satellite Services (FSS): Broadcast feed used between TV networks. Main
application is on National Cable Channels supplied to the TV head station

Broadcast Satellite Service(BSS): This is also known as Direct Broadcast Satellite.
communications satellite that transmits to small DBS satellite dishes (usually 18" to
24" in diameter). DBS technology is used for DTH-oriented (Direct-To-Home) satellite
tv services, such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and Sky Angel in the United States,
ExpressVu in Canada, and Sky Digital in the UK.
Sources of Impairment
Distance between earth and satellite

Atmospheric Attenuation

Terrestrial Distance between the receiving
antenna and the aim point of the satellite
(Satellite Footprint)
Distances and Free Space Loss
dB 98 . 21 ) log( 20 ) log( 20 L
dB
+ + = d
dB 07 . 173 ) log( 20 L
dB
+ =
dB 59 . 174 ) log( 20 L
dB
+ =
GEO: Losses at the equator
GEO: Losses at maximum distance (horizon) d=42711 Km)
Distances and Free Space Loss
Atmospheric Attenuation
Oxygen and Water
primary causes

Angle of Elevation
Satellite Footprint
Satellite Network Configurations
Point to Point




Broadcast

Satellite Network Configurations
Sub-Type of Broadcast : VSAT (very small
aperture terminal)
Subscribers use
low cost VSAT
antenna.
Stations share a
satellite transmission
capacity for transmission
to a hub station
Hub can exchange messages with
the subscribers and relay messages between the subscribers
Capacity Allocation Frequency
Division
Allocation Strategies:

FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)

TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
Frequency Division Multiplexing
Satellite squeezes 24 channels in 500 MHz using
frequency reuse
Frequency Division Multiplexing
Examples of channel use in Point-to-Point
configuration:
1200 voice-frequency (VF) voice channels.
One 50-Mbps data stream.
16 channels of 1.544 Mbps each.
400 channels of 64 kbps each.
600 channels of 40 kbps each.
One analogue video signal.
Six to nine digital video signals
FDMA
In Satellite Comms - Is the ability of
multiple earth station to access the same
channel.
Limitation in the number of sub-channels:
Thermal Noise
Intermodulation Noise
Crosstalk
Types of FDMA
Fixed-assignment multiple access (FAMA)
Fixed frequency assignment
Underuse of capacity due to fluctuations in demand

Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA)
Capacity allocated to cope with demand fluctuations
among multiple stations.
Capacity Allocation Time Division
Transmission is in the form of a repetitive
sequence of frames.

Each frame is divided into a number of time
slots.
Capacity Allocation Time Division
Each slots position across the sequence of
frames is dictated to a particular transmitter.

Frame periods range from 100 s to over 2 ms
and consist of from 3 to over 100 slots. Data
rates range from 10 Mbps to over 100 Mbps
Capacity Allocation Time Division
FAMA-TDMA operation
UPLINK
FAMA-TDMA operation
DOWNLINK